How Launchpeer outsourced their Instagram video ads

Outsourcing is all about relationships. The more professional relationships you build and the stronger you build them, the easier it is for you to be the best you can be. Let’s face it… even if you can do it all, you can’t do it all perfectly. So here is what outsourcing is all about: instead of trying to do everything yourself and ending up with results that are just okay, get help from your friends who can knock them outta the park.

Want to see outsourcing in action? Take a look at how we worked with Launchpeer to create their perfect Instagram video ad.

Before we dive in, here’s some background on Launchpeer: they’re a tech agency based in Charleston, South Carolina that connects startups and entrepreneurs around the world with web developers, designers and growth hackers. They’re kind of like us, but more on the tech-y side.

Their brand is fun, yet professional, and they needed their ad to convey this while showing that they’re amazing at what they do. Launchpeer had been one of our agency partners for two years already and knew they could expect great stuff from our creators.

What Launchpeer needed
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Lots of companies have their lures out on Instagram. Launchpeer needed an ad that stood out and caught entrepreneurs’ eyes. Illustration contest entry by miridi.

Launchpeer needed a way to advertise its free facebook group for entrepreneurs and startup founders, Launch Club. Launch Club members get access to a bunch of support resources like daily Q&A sessions, live coaching and exclusive training events.

The ad needed to catch a specific target group’s attention: startup founders and entrepreneurs between the ages of 24 and 35. This is an audience that’s in higher income brackets, tends to have more limited attention spans and spends loads of time on social media.

Initially, Launchpeer’s founder and CEO, Jake Hare, knew video was the way to go to catch these clients’ attention, but wasn’t sure quite how to make a video ad that worked. Then, in the scene of our story where the hero serendipitously meets their perfect match, Launchpeer’s Success Manager on 99designs, Melanie Panergo, told him about our video and animation services.

Understanding Launchpeer’s needs
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Success Managers like Melanie have the responsibility to get 99designs clients exactly what they need from the creators on our platform. Before she could connect Launchpeer with the ideal designer for their project, she needed to dive into the project and understand every aspect of what they needed. This meant going through all the material Jake provided and filling in any gaps in that material with her understanding of branding and design to determine the best solution for Launchpeer.

“We really like ads that have flashing colors and images with text that are loopable and catch people’s attention,” Jake explained.

With this in mind, Melanie guided Jake through the briefing process to make sure they were on the same page about everything related to the project. To give Melanie a better sense of how Launchpeer presents themselves, Jake provided brand assets like their logo, marketing collateral and brand guidelines.

He also gave her an outline of every great ad’s backbone: its story. This is the message he needed Launchpeer’s ad to communicate: “Building a startup? Let’s do it together. Join our free community. Launch Club.”

Creating connections
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An animated story doesn’t have to be long to be complete. Web animation by Mariya Dziadziulia.

Melanie’s next step was to determine which of the skilled creators on 99designs was the best fit for Launchpeer’s project. To be able to find the right match for each project, we curated a list of the creators on 99designs with these skills:

Video editing

Animation

Motion graphics

The creator for Launchpeer’s ad had to have all of them. Our team had spent months vetting creators to compile this list, working with them to determine each designer’s more specific skills and style.

After looking through each designer’s portfolio, Melanie had her shortlist. Then she had to find a designer on that list who had the availability to take on Launchpeer’s project. That designer turned out to be Mariya Dziadziulia, a 5-star rated 2D animation designer with 46 contest wins, 195 1-to-1 projects and 24 repeat clients in her portfolio. Melanie had her match.

Breathing life into Launchpeer’s vision
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Outsourcing is teamwork. Even if you commission a designer to handle the creative part of your job, you’ve gotta give them direction and help them refine it until it’s perfect. Illustration by PL Anceau.

Melanie’s next task was to connect Jake with Mariya and become a resource for both of them over the course of the project. After Melanie introduced the two and shared Launchpeer’s brand assets with Mariya, Mariya and Jake worked out all the ad’s fine details, like whether she could use stock imagery in the animation. Jake told her she could.

Over the next week, Mariya created a draft that Jake could review against his brief. Once they’d hammered out the perfect ad to introduce Launch Club to Instagram’s sea of business-builders, Melanie stepped back in to ensure Jake had all the files he needed: the 9:16 portrait size video and editable files for the 1:1 size and 9:16 size. With those files in Jake’s hand, Melanie signed off on the job and Jake had Launchpeer’s story ready to tell.

And then what happened?
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When Launchpeer posted their ad as an Instagram story the results spoke for themselves. The ad was a runaway success and Launchpeer saw their CPC decrease dramatically. As Jake put it, “the designer crushed it!”

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The author

Lindsay is a copy and content writer who loves all things creepy, beachy, and cheesy. If something somehow hits all three, all the better. Aside from writing, her interests include making art, reading tarot cards, and exploring new places. Learn more about Lindsay's writing services at lindsaykramercopywriting.com